Counselor Empathy; Religiosity; and Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual Perspectives

Values-based conflicts, such as between counselor religiosity and ability to work with lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients, can present a challenge for counselors and trainees who seek to provide ethical and competent care. Because empathy can facilitate understanding a client's frame of reference, the authors examined the relationships between counselor religiosity, empathy, and LGB perspectives, as well as the potential mediating effects of empathy on values conflicts. The authors discuss implications for counselor education and practice.     

The Experience of Religion and Spirituality Among College Students Who Use Illicit Substances

Nine collegiate illicit substance users participated in a phenomenological study of their perceptions of religion, spirituality, and substance use. We identified three themes from the interviews: (a) development of substance-using behaviors, (b) journey with religion and spirituality, and (c) intersectionality of substance use and religious and spiritual journeys. The participants voiced a complex bidirectional relationship among use behaviors, religion, and spirituality that could be facilitative, adverse, or divergent. We provide implications and suggestions for future research.     

Carrying the Burden: Counselors of Color’s Experiences of Microaggressions in Counseling

In this secondary analysis using a previous dataset, the authors explored, via a phenomenological research tradition, how 8 counselors of color responded to clients’ microaggressive behaviors. Researchers identified 3 major themes in the data: (a) buffering and bracing for racial microaggressions, (b) experiencing the intrusions of racial microaggressions, and (c) strategizing and responding in session. The authors apply the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (Ratts, Singh, Nassar-McMillan, Butler, & McCullough, 2015) to their findings as a framework for considering practice and training implications.     

Imagery encoding effects on memory in the DRM paradigm: A test of competing predictions

In three experiments the effects of imagery encoding and test format on false memory rates in the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigm were examined. After generating images of individual items (Experiment 1) or integrated subsets (Experiment 2), all of which were embedded in thematically related lists, participants were surprised by a recognition memory test or one of three kinds of source tests. As predicted by a distinctive encoding hypothesis, generating individual images led to better accuracy on presented items, and better monitoring of critical lures, than generating integrated images (Experiments 1 and 2). However, both kinds of imagery encoding led to fewer endorsements of critical lures compared to a non‐imagery encoding condition (Experiment 3). Imagery encoding effects were also independent of test format. The implications of these findings for the use of DRM‐false memory rates in debates about the use of guided imagery techniques are discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contingency judgements on the fly

The present research was conducted to establish the validity of a novel procedure for measuring human contingency judgements aimed at shortening the length of conventional procedures. Cues and outcomes were simple geometric shapes that were presented in a rapid streaming fashion, reducing the length of a block of trials from several minutes to a few seconds. We establish the reliability of the procedure by replicating two central findings in the contingency judgement literature, and we elaborate on the importance of this method for future research.     

The analysis and treatment of vocal stereotypy in a child with autism

This study examined procedures for the assessment and treatment of automatically reinforced vocal stereotypy of a 6‐year‐old girl with autism. Stimulus assessments were conducted to identify toys that were correlated with higher rates of vocal stereotypy and toys that were not. A concurrent operants assessment identified preferred stimuli (toys that produced auditory stimulation), which were then used as reinforcers for the non‐occurrence of vocal stereotypy. A reversal design was used to compare the effects of a fixed time schedule of reinforcement (FT 1‐min) to differential reinforcement for the non‐occurrence of behavior (DRO) to reduce vocal stereotypy. Implementation of the FT schedule revealed no effect, whereas the DRO schedule led to a reduction in the target behavior during treatment sessions and across the school day. This study adds to the body of literature supporting the identification of matched stimuli to reduce non‐socially mediated problem behavior. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Imagination links with schizotypal beliefs,not with creativity or learning

Imagination refers to creating mental representations of concepts, ideas, and sensations that are not contemporaneously perceived by the senses. Although it is key to human individuality, research on imagination is scarce. To address this gap, we developed here a new psychometric test to assess individual differences in imagination and explored the role of imagination for learning, creativity, and schizotypal beliefs. In a laboratory‐based (N = 180) and an online study (N = 128), we found that imagination is only weakly associated with learning achievement and creativity, accounting for 2–8% of the variance. By contrast, imagination accounted for 22.5% of the variance in schizotypal beliefs, suggesting overall that imagination may be more indicative of cognitive eccentricities rather than benefit the accumulation of knowledge or production of novel and useful ideas.     

Introducing the Expectations and Preference Scales for Couple Therapy (EPSCT): Development,Psychometric Evaluation,and Suggested Use in Practice and Research

While it is known that client factors account for the largest proportion of outcome variance across treatment modalities, little is known about how clients’ characteristics affect the process and effectiveness of couple therapy. To further knowledge in this area, we created a brief, practice‐friendly measure, the Expectation and Preference Scales for Couple Therapy (EPSCT). Three self‐report scales assess clients’ Outcome expectations (e.g., I expect our relationship to improve as a result of couple therapy) and role expectations for Self (e.g., I expect to listen to my partner's concerns) and Partner (e.g., I expect my partner to blame me). Three Cognitive‐Behavioral, Emotionally Focused, and Family Systems preference scales use a forced‐choice format to measure the comparative strength of respondents’ preferences for interventions broadly reflective of each approach. A large item pool was developed from relevant literature and clinical experience and refined based on face and content analyses with two panels of experienced couple therapists and researchers. Across four studies with 1,175 participants, the scales’ internal consistency reliabilities were similar and their construct validity was supported with confirmatory factor analyses and significant correlations with several established measures, including expectation measures developed for individual psychotherapy and measures of attitudes toward professional help seeking and valuing personal growth. Across all studies, participants had stronger role expectations for themselves than their partners, although gender effects differed by sample. We discuss how to use the 15‐item EPSCT in clinical practice and in future research as a predictor of couple therapy processes and outcomes.     

Enhancing Program Quality in a National Sample of After‐school Settings: The Role of Youth–Staff Interactions and Staff/Organizational Functioning

Using multilevel data from the national evaluation of Boys and Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), this study examined associations among programmatic structures, workplace and workforce characteristics, and relational practices of program staff as they relate to young people's ratings of their experience attending local clubs. The sample included 57,710 members and 5,231 staff members at 740 BGCA sites throughout the United States. Staff relational practices—including establishing caring relationships, setting high expectations, positive behavior management, encouraging youth input and agency, and cultural sensitivity—explained associations between staffing and organizational functioning and youths’ perceptions of the quality of their clubs. Findings suggest a central role of staff relational practices in establishing conditions that youth experience positively, and that staffing and organizational processes, including community engagement and teamwork and efficiency can be viewed as foundations for establishing a culture of positive adult‐youth interaction, which in turn can contribute to the promotion of positive youth development. Further, identification with the experiences of youth had a direct association with youths’ perceptions of club quality. These results underscore the importance of staff workforce development initiatives as key to improving youth experiences in after‐school programs.